


to imagine a world without you

by daleked



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 07:18:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5038975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daleked/pseuds/daleked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>They eat in a shitty roadside diner before turning the car around, and Max doesn’t let go of Chloe’s hand. </em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	to imagine a world without you

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t like the end they had for the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay part: it just felt very much like lazy writing, and an easy cop-out. Give us something lengthy and thoughtful the way you did for the Sacrifice Chloe option. Don't succumb to the All Lesbians Must Have An Unhappy Ending trope. Please.

They eat in a shitty roadside diner before turning the car around, and Max doesn’t let go of Chloe’s hand. 

Turns out that David had been safe in the bunker during the storm, gathering more evidence to lock Jefferson up for the rest of his human life. Joyce and Warren were with Frank in the Two Whales when it exploded. Max doesn’t regret that one last hug she’d had with Warren, and tries to remember to stay strong like he’d told her to. Chloe cries until her eyes are dry, and declares that she’ll go where Max does. 

Max takes a photo of David sitting by Joyce’s grave. 

Eventually, they settle in California. SoCal, not Norcal, and the heat has Chloe dropping her leather jacket in favour of large, airy t-shirts.

Max attends CalArts. She’s bright, and sometimes Chloe can still see the storm raging inside of her. Max’s photos are vivid and full of life, and the praise comes rolling in. People ask questions. About her, about escaping Arcadia Bay after the storm, about attending Blackwell. She answers them, and smiles gently for the camera.

+

‘The gallery was a bitch today,’ Max says. ‘Chloe? You home?’ The lights are off, which usually means that she isn’t, but the truck is in the driveway and her shoes are outside the door. ‘Chloe?’

The TV is on. ‘Today, five years on from the freak tornado at Arcadia Bay that left thousands injured...’ 

Chloe is sitting in front of the television in the dark, crying softly. Her hands cover her face, muffling the sobs, but Max can see Chloe’s shoulders shaking in the blue light. Five years on, huh? Five years on and Chloe still goes home for Thanksgiving, sitting across the table silently from David Madsen with slices of tofurkey and premade mashed potatoes and instant green bean casserole. Last year the Caulfields had the both of them over at Max’s behest, and it had been a quiet affair. He chose to stay on in Arcadia Bay, and Chloe stopped calling him ‘step-douche’. It’s what Joyce would have wanted.

‘Y-yeah, I’m home,’ Chloe says, hands still over her face. ‘Could you get me a piece of tissue?’ 

Max drops her bag by the sofa and grabs the box of Kleenex from beside the TV, leaving it on the coffee table. ‘Hey. Here you go. Come on, Chloe.’

Chloe stays still, trying to calm herself. Between her palms she gulps for breath, sobs subsiding slowly. ‘Max, I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be,’ Max says, and kneels beside her. ‘You know something? Look at me, Chloe.’ Max gently pries Chloe’s hands away. Chloe’s eyes are red-rimmed from crying, and the tip of her nose is warm. Max can’t help it. She kisses Chloe right there and then, on her forehead, gentle and knowing.

‘Five years on, and I still believe I made the right choice.’

Chloe smiles then, through the tears. ‘Okay.’

‘How about Italian tonight?’

‘Only if by Italian you mean pizza.’ They laugh together, and for a second there Max sees the grief slip off Chloe’s shoulders like a worn blanket. 

They’re doing all right out here.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you thought of this. I can also be found on [tumblr](http://billielurk.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
